Chocolates
by nssxcommander
Summary: A collection of one-shots on how the Master spent his Valentines with his Servants.


"You're doing it again."

"Hm?" Gudao looked up from his doodling straight into the golden eyes of the female Avenger. She sat with the backrest of the chair in front of her, leaning forward as her chin rested on her bare arms. She had elected to remove her Shinjuku 1999 jacket, leaving it atop his bed. Gazing at him with a soft expression filled him with a warmth that betrayed the burning hell she often portrayed herself to be.

It wasn't that she was hard to get along with, in fact, most of the other Servants had moved on from their past encounters with her Orleans' version and already welcomed her as one of their own - it was her turn tonight to be the head chef for dinner and she could cook up a hearty lamb (read: dragon) entree - but her frequently swearing and brutal opinions on the things she found distasteful really painted her as a keep-away-from-the-Lilys type of girl.

To him, however, she had noticeably cut down on her language and spoke to him with a softer, gentler voice. Gudao wasn't really sure when it happened, since she was still swearing at him and calling him, 'disgusting,' even after he managed to procure the funds and materials to make her current casual wear. But something had indeed changed between then and now, as if a switch had been flipped, and she had begun treating Gudao without much of her unnecessary spice.

He rather liked the change but chose to keep quiet about it lest she suddenly flips back and goes all hell again.

Nowadays, she would regularly pass by and sit, usually at the time when he had breaks and was sketching or coloring something. He initially thought she came with a concern, but she shook her head at the notion. "Is it alright if I watched," she would ask, and what kind of Master was he if he said no to that. Eventually, her silent presence somehow put him at ease, and he found his thoughts lingering towards her on the days she wasn't visiting.

"...you probably weren't listening to anything I said, huh?"

"Ah, no-"

She saw him squirm and snickered.

"It doesn't matter. I was just saying you usually have that thing when you purse your lips forward like a fish when you're deep in thought. Or when you're troubled. It's probably more of the latter since you don't usually shake your leg unless you're upset."

She paused as she noted Gudao's stare, and shifted in her seat.

"You're pretty observant."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? 'Sides, it's not like I'm the only one who sees it. You know, you also do a lot of that deflecting thing when other people corner you, and then you throw things right back at them. I know since you blink too much when you do it. It's not like I care, but, yeah...you know what I mean."

"..."

"..."

"K-K-KUHAHAHAHA."

"Fuck you."

"HAHAHA wait no, no, man, I just couldn't believe you'd say something like that."

"Asshole."

"That's cute."

"I'm leaving."

As she stood up, Gudao grabbed her arm and held her in place, his other hand busy wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Waaaiit, haha, don't go." As he got her to sit, he continued, "Hey. I'm honestly really glad. I didn't even realize I do those things. Thanks for telling me."

She sighed as she gave him a moment to compose himself. Crossing her arms and legs, she looked at him inquisitively.

"So what's wrong?"

Gudao pursed his lips. (Jeanne noted that his lips usually scrunched themselves to the right first when he was thinking about how to phrase something that was hard to say... but she already embarrassed herself enough today so she stayed silent).

He then took a deep breath and then nodded.

"Yeah, I mean, honestly, how do you know if you're doing enough? Like how do you know if you should have done more or could have done more, or if enough is enough already."

He saw a disgusted look flash on her face before returning to her default expression. He quickly realized the irony of his question and covered his mouth.

"Sorry, I-"

"Where is this coming from," she managed to say.

There was no malice in her question, not even a snarky tic from the way she sounded, and it actually bothered him because she had really asked that out of concern for him. Even after a few months of "bonding" with her, so to speak, she never exhibited this kind of curiosity for his well-being, aside from the usual ones you hear in battle. To say that this wasn't the Jalter that he knew wasn't even scratching the surface.

_You know, screw not asking, this was starting to get weird. _

"You know, Jeanne-"

"Don't call me that."

"_Jalter_, I've been honestly meaning to ask you, did something happen? Why are you being so nice all of a sudden lately?"

She actually smirked.

"Don't change the subject."

"Answer the question first."

"Tch."

"Tch."

They glared at each other in silence. She narrowed her eyes at him and he fired back at her. He wasn't really upset but he couldn't back down, especially against her. But slowly, he rather realized that this was the first time he could appreciate her face in full view. How her eyelashes were soft against her rich hazelnut irises. How her eyebrows neatly trimmed, her nose not too big nor too small, her cheeks that were smooth and without blemish. And her lips that rarely curled into a smile but would've probably killed thousands when they did. Caster Gilles really, really imagined someone too good to be true.

He could suddenly feel his heart thumping.

It did not go unnoticed.

She flicked his forehead.

"Ow?"

"You're being stupid."

"Hey."

"And idiotic."

He frowned but she wasn't stopping.

"And as fucking dense as that shitbag protagonist you usually read in manga who for some reason gets all the ladies - and I don't understand why people keep reading garbage like that because that loser never does anything. He doesn't take the time to talk to everyone and listen to every little shit they say even when they don't even mean shit just to make them feel like they're okay. He doesn't keep taking on stupid requests just because someone else felt it was important and he found it his life's job to make everyone happy even when he's fucking dead tired. He doesn't pretend to be okay just because the others need him to be okay even though deep down inside he feels like a fucking fraud and that he's not even supposed to be there because he 'doesn't qualify'. And I know this for a fact because I felt like that too for a shit-ass long time. Newsflash, so what if he doesn't? He's not even any of that so what does he care?"

Gudao blinked a few times and opened his mouth but nothing seemed to come out. He tried again but he just couldn't say anything else to that. Then, she smiled (?!) and pressed her delicate fingers up on his chin, closing it.

"Damn straight."

Her hand slowly moved up to his cheek and grazed it before pinching it softly.

"Shakespeare showed me your collection the other day. Dunno how he got them without you knowing but guess the creep's good for something after all. Find someone else to idolize."

And before he realized it, she stood up and took out something from her jacket's pocket and placed it on his lap. It was a rectangular gift wrapped with a gold ribbon, the bright red paper looking as hot as her flames.

"...and take responsibility as a master fraud. Happy Valentines, Gudao."

She left without another word. Minutes passed before he snapped out of his reverie. His breathing was ragged and he had been shaking. He turned his attention towards the gift and unwrapped it, showing a dark chocolate bar with Jeanne's face carefully crafted on it. As he lifted the bar, there was a small note behind it that fell to the floor. Crouching over and reading it, it said,

_Shakespeare told me that if I wanted to curse you, I'd have to draw my face on it,_

_and make sure the taste was "something to die for," so that you'd feel so torn about wanting to try it,_

_and not wanting "to break my pretty little face". I chose to do him one better._

_Taste it. You'll see what I mean._

_-Jeanne_

His eyes widened as he read her signature, and had to read it again to just to make sure.

"Well, I'll be..."

He decided to take her up on her offer. Breaking it off from the outer-most, as not to damage the portrait of her face, he took a nibble and quickly noted how bitter the taste was. She probably used high grade dark chocolate for this and Gudao wasn't used to the flavor, his tongue lashing out. However, something seemed to implore him to continue and as he did so, the bitter flavor became less and less potent, and before he knew it he found himself breaking a part of her face. Suddenly, his palate turned sweet. It wasn't an explosion of sweetness like the bitterness had been, but it was a gradual change, and it got better and better until he broke off the middle of her face, right near her lips, where melted chocolate began to drip. Catching the drops before they fell, he noted a bittersweet flavor, something that was very familiar - and then it hit him that this was the same taste as the chocolates he used to enjoy back when he was a kid.

He had specifically requested Da Vinci to rayshift with him one time - just one little selfish wish - to go back to his childhood hometown in order to bring some back to Chaldea. But some weird phantasmal beasts went after him, and so he tagged along the female avenger who just so happened to be resting at the Setsubun Hot Springs at the time. She was her irritable self then but stopped complaining after he explained the reason for the rayshifting, and actually accompanied him, allowing him to retrieve the comfort food without fail.

_And wait, was this the turning point!?_

Gudao chuckled. _It probably was._ When they got back, he gave her some to try as gratitude for her help. After she took a bite, she told him it tasted like shit, and then proceeded to grab two more before leaving. It was the very next day when her periodic room visits started.

Taking another bite, he realized there were some inconsistencies with the flavor, it was slightly more sweet than bitter, and then it hit him. He was sure they had already run out, so this couldn't have possibly been the actual chocolate.

This was a counterfeit; a fraud.

And damn was it better than the original.

Before he knew it, he had finished all of the chocolate and found himself wanting more. Of course, he wasn't going to give Jalter the benefit of him begging for her to make him another one, although, now that he thought about it, maybe this new shift in her might make it easier to ask?

He didn't really know, and he decided to think more about it later as additional updates on Mash's health came in.

He kept her note in his breast pocket and whispered soft words of gratitude before going back to work.


End file.
